Grassy Narrows youth are building two new cabins at the Slant Lake blockade site. The cabins will be used for hunting, fishing, and housing elders, guests, and community members who visit the blockade. The cabin building is part of a process of reclamation and revival for Grassy Narrows where people are using the land on their territory to empower themselves and to sustain their families, revive their culture and heal their community.
The assertion of rights on traditional land is one of the most important components of the ongoing struggle for Indigenous rights. Grassy Narrows people have long asserted that they themselves have the authority to use the land use on their traditional territory to sustain and empowering themselves. The building of a cabin is a perfect example of how people from Grassy Narrows are asserting their rights through the straightforward actions of living an Anishnabe life, and by passing knowledge on to the youth.
This is a critically important piece of the work that is being undertaken by the people of Grassy Narrows to empower themselves and to sustain their families, revive their culture and heal their community—this access to land is crucial for the healing of First Nations
More resources are still needed to purchase roofing and flooring materials. If you, or you organization, can make a contribution please contact riverrun2010@gmail.com
In a recent court decision (Meshake) the judge found that First Nations do not require permits of any kind before building cabin on their traditional territories. In an other case the Crown dropped all charges against Roberta Keesick, a Grassy Narrows trapper charged for building a log cabin on her family's traditional lands without a permit. Similar charges against her non-native partner and helper, have also been dropped. .
Read the press release here
